I believe you stated earlier that you only shape for yourself? Or do you make boards for others? I like the sound of some of your ideas to build a board strong enough, yet still remaining conscious of weight, flex and performance.

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Curious Was the rusty a tufflite or no?

I believe it was, but I brought it to the repair guy, so do not have access to it. This board did seem to stand up well to my riding style, I am just having some trouble getting the repair to hold up.

Most kite surfboards are WAY more reinforced for impact but are often times heavier than sin.

I agree and accept breaking boards is the price for light weight and flex.

As for the SS celeritas, it is a poorly designed board. They put a reinforcement square under the front foot under the bamboo, and naturally it broke along the front edge of the reinforced area. This board was ridden lightly and has no other mark or dent, other than the failure of the top deck and bamboo.

There is a local shaper I am working with on a board, but my board is his first attempt at a strapless kiteboard. Both of us are aware that there might be a brutal learning curve as we try different things, but your info will definitely be applied towards the next construction. I am picking up my new board next week, and will try your suggestion of a front stomp pad. Fortunately, the shaper and repair guy I use work together so they have a good idea of the stress I put on a board.

I will start taking pictures of the failures. I do have photos of the SS if you are interested.

I have found most production boards too heavy for strapless airs, they just fall away from your feet too early. The lighter the board the less wind is required to hold it to your feet. I'm not proficient enough with grabs to hold the heavier boards in the light winds.

I also have serious issues with the pointy noses fitted to most production boards which serve little purpose other than to spear you when caught by a wave. My goal is a board weight of about 2.9kgs inc pads and fins, this is doable using standard materials at little cost. Lighter is possible but more expensive.

My current board is a copy of the BWS Drifter, 1 layer of 4oz S glass all over and a 6 oz deck patch over a standard urethane blank with polyester resin. Yes, far too light for kiting but with the addition of Kevlar tape of the rails it has stood up pretty well so far. The tape gives an eggshell effect, strength but with a nice flex and is cheap to buy.

Time will tell how long it lasts but so far so good. Yes, it pressure dents easily but only cost about $100 and a bit of labour (about 8 hrs as I am a slow shaper) so I'm not too worried.

So if your that way inclined have a go yourself, plenty of advice on the net of how to do it. Make some templates of a board you like. Bugger all tools needed and you won't be buying those $1000 production boards anymore. Very satisfying riding something you built yourself.

what do you guys think will be the minimum weight before the board starts to jump arround and be unstable ?

let's say, in medium chop, 20 knots.

Well, to me it depends more on shape, use and taste...so no magic number. A guy I know designs his boards to be 12-15 lb with a pretty hard rail. He rides them really well too...I would probably go as light as I could (and still not break) until the waves are well overhead.

The above board looks awesome, but that construction would take me one session to break (I think). Heavy rider and hard landings aren't really a good recipe for long lasting light boards.

I think for big waves, and very choppy conditions skinnier boards with some weight will both be stronger, hold up longer and sit better down.

what do you guys think will be the minimum weight before the board starts to jump arround and be unstable ?

let's say, in medium chop, 20 knots.

I agree it's heavily shape and rocker related but don't pretend to understand it fully. weight is one of the variables that should improve stability as it increases but I'm not convinced it's the dominant one as I've got a 10lb+ pound board and it's less stable than my 6 pounder.

Calibra Beautiful boards, but in my opion carbon is a bad material for kite surfboard as it's stiff and has poor impact resistance on a structure where you generally want more flex and high impact resistance.my testing with carbon indicates a lighter structure which is more durable to failure underfoot can be made from E or S glass at a much lower cost.

I suspect the weight of your board is a little higher than some in order to overcome some limitations of the material..... post up the weight.

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